The Flint Beecher girls basketball team scored 23 points in the fourth quarter Monday to defeat Flint Northwestern 53-44 and gain its first win of the season.

"I feel great," Beecher coach Leon Gould said. "The team feels great. My staff feels great. The locker room was very upbeat after today's game and you could feel the effect success can have. I always tell my girls to never get too high or too low. We've been close in games this season, but we needed this one. We all did.

"Now that we got that first win and realize what we are capable of as a team, we just need to be consistent with what we teach and strive for. That will translate to more consistency on the floor."

"Our girls are starting to realize that everyone has a role to play and both of the Craig twins are starting to be more consistent; they both played big games tonight," Gould said. "Their role for us is to tie up the middle and rebound, and for this being their first year playing with steady minutes on varsity, they have both shown tremendous growth."

Sophomore point guard Victoria Robinson scored 13 points, including a 5-for-5 performance from the free-throw line. Robinson also chipped in eight steals and eight assists for Beecher. Rochelle Richardson scored 10 points to go with her eight rebounds and six steals.

"Victoria Robinson grew today," Gould said. "I watched it happen on the court. She had four unforced turnovers early, but I stuck with her and let her know I had confidence in what she was doing. We gave her a little bit, and she gave us back more."

"In the second half, we employed our trap defenses, turned up the heat and I think that helped to throw their timing off," Gould said. "Our girls ran the floor well, we were able to force some turnovers and as result, we were able to get out and finish some easy transition looks to close the game.

"Northwestern put forth a great effort and knocked down some big shots, but we also did a nice job of controlling the glass and limiting them to one shot."

Beecher will host Lake Fenton on Jan. 7.

"It's a process," Gould said. "I'm proud of my team, we've made steady progress, and considering we only have three seniors on the team and start one, our outlook is good going forward. It's exciting, we're optimistic and if we can ever figure out how to to take care of the basketball, we're going to be a tough team to deal with."